1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to a divided sealing ring for seal members and cable fittings wherein the seal ring is composed of an elastomeric hose having a connecting element that connects ends of the hose.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cable fitting or sleeve, such as to cover a splice in the cable, is generally composed of two end face seal members in which ports are provided for the introduction of the cables as well as an outer cylindrical sleeve member which is wrapped around the two end face members and extends therebetween to form an enclosure. The cylindrical sleeve is sealed to prevent the entry of water, for example, or gases. Among other things, an effective seal is needed between the outer circumference of the end face seal members and the inside wall of the cylindrical sleeve portion. Closed round seals, or O-rings, are generally used here.
However, when the sleeve is to be placed over an uncut cable or over a cable splice which has already been produced, the application of a closed sealing ring or O-ring is not possible. Thus, the sealing ring must be cut open and only then can be placed over the cable and, ultimately, on to the end face seal member. The seal ring must then be rejoined at its cut location to form an effective seal. Up to now, such a connection of the cut ends of the seal is performed by gluing the ends together in a centering form or device. The sealing ring is generally composed of a silicon rubber which is extremely well suited for sealing purposes. However, gluing the ends of such sealing ring produces a particularly unsatisfactory result since the curing time for such glue takes several hours.
A known divided round seal for sealing members is formed of a thick walled elastic hose which has been transversely divided or cut. A connecting pin is then introduced into the inside of the ends of the hose at the cut location for the purpose of bridging the cut ends. Disadvantages arise even when the surfaces of the connecting pin are appropriately shaped or roughened since the cut location may become leaky when the cable sleeve is subjected to mechanical stresses or to temperature fluctuations. Thus, the ineffectiveness of the seal at the cut location leads to problems.
FIG. 1 illustrates a problem which can occur in the hitherto used seal rings 1. In particular, cut ends 4 of the seal ring 1 separate to leave a wedge-shaped gap 3 when the seal ring 1 is mounted on a circular body of relatively small radius. The surfaces 4 lies at an angle 5 to a radius of the circular body, which gives rise yields to stresses so that the gap 3 arises.
In FIG. 2, the cut ring is mounted on a body of a relatively larger radius and, thus, a wide gap is not as likely to occur. However, even though the gap becomes smaller at larger diameters, a small gap is possible. The width of the gap 3 is thereby dependent on the radius of curvature.